Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys). Often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Learning to formulate: What kind of lotion do you want to make?

The first thing I ask myself when I'm formulating a product is what exactly do I want to make? What type of lotion, cream, or butter do I want right now, for what body part, and for what reason? In short, what's my goal for this product? Asking yourself this question is the first step to formulating.

I classify my lotions into four types: Creams or body butters have about 60% water, hand or body lotions have about 70% water, light lotions are about 80% water, and sprayable products or body milks have about 90% water. (Facial moisturizers fall into the 80% to 90% water range depending upon the skin type.) I'll choose one of these basic recipes as my starting point for formulating the type of lotion I want today.

Once you've chosen your type of lotion, consider the skin feel of the product to help you choose your ingredients.

For something like a facial moisturizer, I want something that is non-greasy, something that doesn't feel greasy going on and doesn't leave a shine on my face, and I want something glidy that I don't have to rub in very much.

For a foot cream, I want to use the 60% water recipe and include occlusive and humectants galore. I'm not worried about the greasiness factor as I'm going to be wearing socks afterwards, and I want some really moisturizing ingredients to help with really dry skin.

For a hand lotion, I want to use my 70% water recipe and create a drier feeling lotion with lots of glide that I don't have to work to rub into my skin, but I want something occlusive to reduce transepidermal water loss and to prevent the outside world from making my hands feel drier or more chapped.

These are my preferences, so part of learning to formulate is to figure out what you like and how to make it!

Then consider if you have any other goals - for instance, a lotion for really dry skin, a lotion to prevent weather chapping, a lotion to help with itchiness - and think about which ingredients you can include for that purpose.

If I wanted to create a barrier cream for the winter months, I'd immediately turn to the three approved barrier ingredients - cocoa butter, dimethicone, and allantoin. If I wanted to make a less greasy product, cocoa butter probably isn't my first choice as it can feel greasy, so I'd consider dimethicone and allantoin next. Dimethicone can make a lotion feel a bit greasier, so if I want to use this, I'd choose my oils wisely. If I definitely don't want shine or extra greasiness in a product, then allantoin at 0.5% in the heated water phase would be my best choice.

If I wanted to create a lotion for really dry skin, I know humectants are a big part of formulating for this skin type, so I'll want to load up on things like glycerin or sodium lactate, and I'll want to include some other moisturizers like silk protein, Phytokeratin, panthenol, and cationic polymers. I'll want to choose oils that reduce transepidermal water loss and increase my occlusive ingredients.

If I wanted to create a lotion for camping and summer fun, I'll want something light and non-greasy (I don't want pine needles all over my body!). I'll want to reduce the ingredients that could make me sun sensitive - sodium lactate or sodium PCA at over 3%, for instance, or citrus based essential oils - and I'll want to increase my moisturizing through non-oil ingredients. So I'll want my humectants and film formers to increase moisturization without using more oils or butters. I might even consider using a sprayable lotion to reduce the amount of rubbing in I might have to do.

So ask yourself these questions when you're planning to make a lotion-y type product...

What kind of product do I want to make? Is it a moisturizer, body milk, lotion, cream, or butter?

For which body part is this intended? If you're making facial products, you might want to consider the comedogenicity of the ingredients.

What kind of skin feel do I want? Do I want something light, heavy, dry, or greasy?

Do I have a specific outcome in mind - for instance, treating really dry skin or preventing further damage by weather - and if so, which ingredients will help with that (both water and oil based)?

Welcome to the blog!

Meet our new mascot!

Welcome to the blog!

Thanks for stopping by Point of Interest! Pull up a chair, grab your favourite hot beverage, and hang out for a bit. Feel free to add your comments to posts of any age to share your thoughts! It's no fun writing this blog if I don't get to hear from you, my amazing readers!

If you're asking for help with a formula, I need the complete formula in percentages and your exact process. I can't help without these, and I won't be able to do a back-and-forth with you to get the information.

As for comments, please find a relevant post and write your comment there. There's no point asking for help with your lotion bar on a post about conditioners as no one will see it but you. Please find something that relates by doing a search or looking at sections like hair care, newbie links, or extracts, for example, post your comments there. It'll make it easier for other people to help you if I can't find time, too. If you post something that is very clearly not related to the post in which you're asking for help, it will go unanswered by me.

There are no old posts! Write your comments anywhere and I will see them, although they will be moderated before posting due to the aforementioned spammers.

Unfortunately I'm not able to offer business consultations at this time as I'm simply too busy. Thank you so much for thinking of me when you need assistance with your formulations. (I may be able to offer this in the future.) To clarify, if you sell products you're a business. It doesn't matter how large or small you may be, if you make money with your products, you're a business.

As a note, I am not affiliated with any suppliers or manufacturers of any craft supplies of any type. If I rave about something, it's because I love the ingredient, fabric, beads, etc. not because I've been paid to say something nice! I do get free things from time to time from manufacturers and suppliers, but I make them aware that I will be brutally honest about those ingredients on the blog!

My Patreon page

If you like what I'm offering here on the blog, check out my Patreon page where you can offer a small donation or create a monthly subscription to get even more stuff from the blog, like a monthly e-zine, Q&A, and duplication recipe. The money you donate to me - not the youth programs - will go to creating more content for this blog, creating new e-books and an e-zine, and - we hope - some video content in the future.

Follow SwiftCraftyMonkey on social media!

Join me on my Facebook page for updates, random thoughts, and links to other things I think might be interesting! Or look for me on Twitter @SwiftCraftyM or Instagram as swiftcraftymonkey

My e-books

To raise money for our youth groups, I've put together these e-books! If you want to learn more about the books or donate, click on the bolded links!

Or click here for a short description of all the e-books!The new e-book is here! Formulating Facial Products! This 399 page e-book is filled with recipes for facial products, including moisturizers, sera, cleansers (oil and surfactant based), scrubs, gels, and more, as well as entries for ingredients like botanical extracts, cosmeceuticals, emulsifiers, thickeners, essential oil, and more, as well as a large appendix about our oils.

Click here to see the table of contents! If you make a $28 donation to our youth programs, we'll send you a copy of this e-book along with the preservatives, oils, butters, and surfactant charts as a thank you for your kind generosity!

Formulating & Creating Lotions! This 224 page e-book is perfect for those of you familiar with lotion making and ready to start creating your own recipes! I've included all the information I know about the HLB system, as well as my base recipes for lotions, creams, body butters, and moisturizers!

Click here to see the table of contents! If you make a $26 donation to my youth programs, I'll send you a copy of this e-book, an HLB calculator in Excel format, and the carrier oil, exotic oil, butter, and preservative comparison charts.

Lotion Making 101. This 305 page book includes everything you wanted to know about the basics of making lotions, including the chemistry of our lotions, ingredients we use, keeping your lotions safe, equipment you might need, and more recipes than I could count! For those of you who don't have the Back to Basics book, I've included all the carrier oil, exotic oil, and butter profiles.

Click here to see the table of contents. If you make a $29 donation to my youth groups, I'll send you along a copy of this e-book as a thank you. I'll also send you a copy of the carrier oil, exotic oil, butter, and preservative comparison charts!

Back to Basics: Anhydrous Products. This 122 page e-book includes over 50 recipes and explanations for making lotion bars, whipped butters, balms, oil based scrubs, bath melts, bath oils, oil based sprays, solid scrubs, and facial sera, as well as all the carrier oil, exotic oil, and butter profiles and everything I've gathered about the chemistry of our oils including fatty acids, mechanisms of rancidity, phytosterols, and polyphenols.

Click to take peek at the Table of Contents. If you make a $25 donation to the groups, I'll send you a copy by e-mail as a thank you!

Click on the links above to learn more about the books. If you already know what you want or want to make a general donation, click the button below! (I'll know which e-book you want by the amount you've donated!) Thank you so much for supporting our youth groups. You have made it possible for us to continue offering our programs and we finally got that sewing machine! If you click on this link to my new website, you'll see all the e-books there! From now on, when you buy an e-book, it'll get sent automatically to you and you can always find the link to download it again.

I've had to remove my cell phone number and - as of October 10th, 2017 - my work number due to a number of calls from people wanting to learn how to make products. If you're attending the groups, please use the contact information on the pamphlet to get in touch. If you want to know more about them - until we get a new email address created, I'm afraid there isn't a way to get in touch.

DO NOT CALL OR TEXT ME AT ANY PHONE NUMBER TO HELP YOU WITH A FORMULA. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE FOR ANYONE. NONE. PLEASE RESPECT MY BOUNDARIES.

Who the heck is Swift?

I'm an aspiring cosmetic scientician and DIY girl interested in pretty much any craft you can name - bookbinding, jewellery making, sewing, paper crafts, polymer clay - but my main passion is bath & body product making.
I am currently obsessed with Rock Band (bass and singing) and science books. Did you know my favourite word is "toaster" and my favourite adjective is "hirsute"?